by Logan Jacobs
If this was how it was going to be every time Nadir and I had sex, I’d have to figure out some way to make a primitive alarm clock, or, at the very least, task somebody with waking me up at a decent hour.
I was in the middle of that deep, healing sleep when I was shocked awake by the sound of piercing screams, so high they seemed like they would split my eardrums in two easily.
“Ben!”
I blinked my eyes open to the sight of the sun as its bright rays peered through the hole in the roof of the tent. Nadir was next to me, and she started to stir only when I pulled my arm out from underneath her head, where she’d decided to use it as a pillow. My hand was dead, and the tips of my fingers tingled, but I started to regain feeling in them at the same time consciousness began to float back to me.
“Ben!” The screech sounded again, and this time, I was up in a flash. I could tell it was no dream or hallucination at that point, and the sound chilled me to the bone.
“That is Jira!” Nadir gasped as she bolted upright beside me.
The two of us were on our feet in seconds, and we tugged on our wrinkled pieces of clothing haphazardly, barely cognizant enough to even get our shirts and pants on in the right direction.
As soon as I wasn’t buck naked, I leapt over the mattress, with its tangled sheets that still smelled of delicious sex, and dashed from the tent to figure out why the hell Jira was screaming bloody murder.
Instantly, I recognized it was somewhere around noon, since the sun was high in the sky, but I was so groggy I wasn’t even sure if it was noon the next day, or multiple days after the night Nadir and I had gone to bed.
I rubbed my eyes to help them adjust to the brightness, and then I squinted as I sought out the racoon-woman who had been screaming my name.
Jira dashed through the camp, and she leapt over the cooking fires and other women as they prepared their weapons and readied themselves for the battle with the orcs we planned on as soon as we were in possession of the egg.
“Jira, what’s wrong?” I demanded when the white-haired beauty finally made it up to me.
In a very un-Jira-like move, she doubled over with her hands on her knees as she panted to try and regain her breath. Her white hair was sweaty and stuck to her forehead in wet clumps, but I could see goosebumps all up and down her arms.
“I… the tunnel…” she panted, but the poor woman didn’t even have enough breath to be able to properly form words.
“Hold on,” I told her, even as my anxiety grew with the partial information. “Take a breath. Sit down.”
I led the curvy woman over to a log near the dead fire and helped her to sit down. Her black eyes were glazed over, as if she was in some sort of trance, and her white tail flicked about nervously on the sand. The appendage sent up little particles of rocks and shells every time she moved, but the woman didn’t seem to notice or care.
She sucked in a few, huge breaths and managed to regulate her heartbeat and breathing just enough that I wasn’t terrified she might randomly faint on me or collapse.
Nadir had come out of the tent then, and she knelt down in front of Jira to rub her back and help calm her down. The rest of the women gathered around, and they stood wide eyed and silent as they stared at the white-haired woman. Sela and a few other women held their spears and swords up, almost unconsciously, since they had been interrupted mid-battle practice, but with the way Jira was acting, it wouldn’t have surprised me if they were all worried we might have a battle on our hands right then.
Two seconds later, hardly enough time for the woman to get enough breath back, Jira sucked in a huge inhale and turned to me. She still shook, and a tear fell from her right eye, but she was determined to speak.
“There was a cave-in at the tunnels!” she wailed. “Lezan, and Malak, and Cinai, and… so many. They’re trapped!”
Instantly, every atom in my body went into overdrive.
“We need to get down there,” I hollered as I leapt up from my position by Jira and dashed back into my tent to grab my sword.
“My king, what can we do to help?” Sela demanded when I raced back through the camp.
“I need you and Mira with me,” I told her. “But no one else. We don’t want to bring too many people into those tunnels if they’re unstable.”
“Of course.” Mira nodded as she came up right behind Sela, and then she turned back to the rest of the camp. “Everyone, stay here. Prepare a space for anyone who has been wounded and must return to our camp for help.”
Sela and Mira already had their own weapons, though I hoped we didn’t need them. The last thing I wanted was to have to fight off a giant mole while we were trying to help the women in the tunnels.
“Jira, can you tell me what happened?” I asked as I approached the woman quickly. “I need details.”
“Yes,” she nodded, and her white hair stuck to the sweaty curve of her chin. “I was above ground, tracking to make sure it was not damp. They must have hit a spot of water down below the earth, where I did not expect it. I heard a loud boom, and then the earth below me became soft.”
“Okay, thanks,” I told her. “Stay here.”
With that knowledge, Sela, Mira, and I ran through the forest and to the ravine as quickly as we could. Even at top speed, though, we still had quite a distance to travel, and with every second that passed, more and more awful scenarios flooded my mind.
They could have all been crushed under the weight of the dirt, or smashed by giant rocks no one knew were there, and we could be about to walk up on the most horrendous scene. Or, they could have been covered with so much dirt their oxygen had already run out, and they were all dead anyhow. They might even still have oxygen left, but we might be too late.
“I knew I shouldn’t have had them tunnel like this,” I growled breathlessly. “We should have kept them closer to us. Or figured out some other plan of attack.”
“Do not do that,” Mira panted beside me.
“What?” I demanded, more harshly than I meant to, but the jade-haired warrior didn’t even bat an eye at my rude tone.
“The thing you always do,” she replied knowingly. “Blaming yourself for anything that has gone wrong. You could not have foreseen this, my king.”
“Even my grandfather did not foresee this event,” Sela pointed out seriously.
“The women assured you they could build the tunnel,” Mira added as our legs continued to eat up the distance to the ravine. “They have done such things before, and this is their island on top of that. There was no way any of us could have known the tunnel would cave-in near the sea.”
“You might be right,” I grunted. “But I’m responsible for them. I came here promising to save their island and get their treasure back. I could never forgive myself if I didn’t live up to that promise.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Mira assured me. “Because the Ben I know always lives up to his promises. That is why he is my Draco Rex, husband to all the women and father of many children. You have already proven your greatness many times.”
I spared Mira a quick grin for her words. They hadn’t quelled the worried thoughts, but they did make me feel a little bit better.
She was right.
I always lived up to my promises, and this would be absolutely no different.
A few minutes later, we finally reached the ravine, and we jogged down the little stretch between the edge of the forest and the giant tree that still rested across it. Just beyond the ravine, on the other side, we could see the giant black opening that served as the entrance to the tunnels.
“Sela, stay earth side,” I told the gray-blue haired warrior. “We might need you to dig us out.”
“With what?” she asked.
“Here.” Mira produced one of the crude rock shovels Nadir’s people had on hand for some of their own digging projects. “I have seen Nadir use one of these. You scoop the dirt with it the way you would scoop up food with a spoon.”
Sela didn’t
even study the tool before she nodded.
“Of course, my king,” she responded.
We crossed the ravine, and Mira and I jumped down into the blackness of the hole.
The way wasn’t as well-lit as the already finished tunnels we had traveled in before. There were far fewer lightning bugs, and the strings were hung haphazardly, a temporary fix so the women could see as they built, and not the more permanent lighting the other tunnels used.
“Be careful,” I warned Mira. “We don’t know where this instability starts. You see anything off, tell me immediately.”
“Of course.” She nodded.
We walked down the tunnel as fast as we could, but we needed to be careful at the same time. We didn’t want to make any sudden moves, or do anything that could cause a cave-in on top of us. There would be no rescue party, then.
We hadn’t walked for more than ten minutes when we found the cave-in.
All I could see was a wall of dirt. It was as if the tunnel had just sunk in on itself and completely split in half, with one part totally safe behind us, and the other part dangerous.
I reached out, touched the soil, and rubbed a bit between my two fingers.
“It’s damp,” I confirmed.
“Strange.” Mira frowned. “The surface on this side of the ravine was dry.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean there’s no water on this side of the island,” I pointed out. “There might be an underground reservoir or stream nearby that’s making this soil damp. The diggers probably weren’t expecting that, either.”
“Do… do you think there’s more water on the other side of this wall, my king?” the jade-haired warrior asked.
“I hope not,” I muttered as my heart sank. I didn’t want to think of the raccoon women drowned and dead beyond this dirt wall.
“Can anyone hear us?” Mira called out.
The two of us waited for a moment as fear formed in the pit of both of our stomachs. The split second after Mira yelled may as well have been twenty years to me, and when there was no immediate response, I was almost certain that was it.
But then, we heard a woman’s voice, and I nearly jumped with joy.
“Ben, is that you?” Lezan shouted from somewhere beyond the wall of dirt. “It is about time someone came to get us out of this mess. I was sure I was going to have to start eating the bugs that crawl in these dirt walls.”
“Sorry for the delay,” I laughed in response, but it was more a laugh of relief than anything else. “Is everyone alright?”
“Malak may have a broken arm, but we are fine,” Lezan confirmed. “Hungry enough to eat an entire clucker bird, but absolutely fine.”
“Clucker bird?” Mira murmured curiously.
“A chicken,” I guessed.
“Are the two of you planning to chatter away while we are all stuck back here?” Lezan demanded. “Or do you plan to help us get out of this?”
“Man. These raccoon girls really are a lot like spicy Latina women,” I muttered.
“Who?” Mira asked.
“Uhh, never mind,” I said, and then I threw my voice downward. “Are you able to tunnel back up to the surface?”
“We tried, but the ground in this area is far too wet,” Lezan shouted. “We will have to redirect the tunnels once you have helped us out.”
“Okay.” I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “Just hold on.”
“There is not much else for me to do,” she replied, but I could tell by the dry wit that had entered her tone now that she knew they were all about to be saved.
“How can we go about this?” Mira asked with a frown. “What if the tunnels cave-in once more?”
“If we start in the middle and pack the dirt, instead of getting rid of it, we should be able to make enough of a hole for the women to crawl through,” I explained. “But make sure not to shift the dirt too much. Just sort of push it up or down, so it keeps the same amount of pressure on the walls of the tunnel.”
“Understood.” She nodded.
So, we started in the center and very slowly started to push the dirt aside. Every time there was even the slightest trickle of dust, or a tiny piece of the moist dirt fell, we both froze, terrified we’d just initiated a second cave-in. Never in my life had I felt like we were in the middle of such a high stakes moment. Even after all the battles we’d been through, I’d never had this uneasy feeling.
Finally, we were just barely able to see the other side. The hole was small, maybe eight inches in diameter, but Lezan peered through it with her deep, soulful black eyes. The bit of her hair I could see was so covered in dirt that all of it seemed black, instead of its usual half black, half white look.
“Are you guys still doing okay over there?” I asked her.
“We are fine,” she assured me. “We, uh, appreciate that you have come to save us, Ben.”
That was the first time Lezan had ever said more than a few necessary sentences to me, and certainly the only time she’d ever thanked me for something I’d done.
I couldn’t help the grin that split my face nearly in half. When the curvy woman didn’t have her teeth bared in the kind of anger that could help her take down an entire mountain lion in one fell swoop, she was positively gorgeous. Her eyes, though dark and black as the night, shined with a sort of joyful sparkle I’d never seen anywhere else, and I felt the electric attraction that had zipped through my body the first time I’d seen her.
“You’re very welcome.” I smiled back at her through the tiny hole. “Now, move out of the way so we can finish this.”
Lezan nodded and stepped back to allow Mira and I to continue digging the hole. I could tell the women didn’t want to get in the way and accidentally cause another cave-in over all of our heads, which I appreciated.
After about an hour longer, we’d finally cleared a big enough hole so the women were all able to climb through to safety on the other side.
“Thank you so much, Ben!” they all exclaimed as they kissed and hugged me in appreciation.
“Don’t mention it.” I shrugged off the praise and gratitude as if it was nothing, even though it made my insides tingle with pride and arousal. “Let’s get back. Everyone’s worried about you.”
The women, though they were tired, dirty, and weary from being stuck underground for so long, perked up the moment I said that, and we all nearly ran back to our camp on the beach, where they were greeted with such a loud cheer, it was almost as if they were warriors who had come back home from a great battle.
“Thank you for bringing them home to us, Ben.” Nadir grinned as she jogged up to me. Her pale cheeks were flushed a beautiful, bright red, and the smile she gave me could have rivaled a thousand suns.
“Don’t sweat it,” I told her honestly. “It’s what I’m here for, remember? I assume you’re starting to believe me now?”
“Starting.” She nodded, but I could see the smile she tried to hide.
“Good,” I replied.
“Ben, because you have done such a great service for my people, I would like to reward you,” Nadir added.
At the same moment, all of the raccoon women approached, even the ones who didn’t spend much time in my camp. They gathered in a semi-circle in front of me with their eyes lowered shyly, which was completely new to me. Normally, these women were the opposite of shy.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“You have been helping Jemma and Mira, and the women of their tribes, to grow fat with child and produce offspring,” Nadir explained. “We request the same of you. I give you the choice of which woman you would like to spend the night with and fill with your sperm to make a clever and strong baby. I promise, we are all very talented in bed, so you will enjoy yourself like you did with me.”
The grin she shot me sent me into a heated flashback of the night we’d had… had it really only been the night before?
I stared, wide eyed, at the women in front of me, who were all eager for the chance to have a child,
an opportunity they hadn’t gotten in far too long.
Finally, my eyes settled on Lezan, and the entire time, she had stared at me, unblinking.
“How about you?” I asked her softly.
Lezan’s eyes widened in a way that made me feel as if she never thought I’d pick her.
And then she nodded.
“I would be honored,” she murmured in a husky tone.
“It is done!” Nadir cried out, and a cheer of excitement went up throughout the crowd. “You will impregnate Lezan when the treasure has been returned. Hail Ben!”
“Hail Ben!” the other women cried out, in a chant that repeated for at least five minutes.
But my eyes were focused on Lezan, and I couldn’t fucking wait to get the egg back so I could tear her clothes off and give her a child.
My child.
Chapter Fourteen
We spent the rest of the evening and night by the campfire. The women who had been trapped in the tunnel needed a moment to relax, and I needed some time to figure out what we could do to make sure there wasn’t a secondary cave-in.
Part of me wanted to say to hell with the tunnels and figure out a different route into the orc encampment, but the other part of me knew this was the absolute best plan with the least amount of risk of getting caught involved.
That didn’t mean I was okay with allowing the women to continue to put themselves at risk in the unsafe conditions of the tunnels, though.
I gazed at the flickering light of the fire while the women all talked and laughed around me, and I took some comfort in the fact that everyone got along so well. Even though Nadir and her people had been awfully standoffish when we’d met them, they’d all grown to be a part of our tribe, in one way or another.
It was pretty impressive, admittedly, that I’d managed to blend these three vastly different cultures. Less than a year before, they hadn’t even known the others existed, and now, here they were, talking and laughing around a warm campfire. Some were play-fighting with their swords, spears, arrows, or daggers, and others were gathered in smaller groups and whispered among themselves. A few of Jemma’s people had even cooked up some pieces of chicken for Trin and Malak, and they attempted to get the women to eat the cooked meat.